Pale ale...overcarbed? Too much priming? Small infection?

[bannedbrewingco]

Hey everybody,

I'm just trying to troubleshoot my first batch. Had a small boil over during the 60 min boil, and when I siphoned to the primary, I didn't seal the lid 100% for an hour afterwards (I noticed this after the fact, and sealed it all the way). After 2 weeks, I noticed that when I opened the plastic carboy that it had a slight funk to it with a small white milky substance floating in it.

I bottled anyway, and used a little more priming solution than was called for, as I didn't hit my expected FG. Two weeks later (today), I cracked one open and it smelled fine. I measured the FG again and it had dropped enough to bring me into the 5% range.

The funk was gone, but the beer tasted dry or somewhat overcarbed. It lacked the body of most beers that I'm used to.

Have I already answered my question, or is there something else that could explain the final product? Have any of you experienced a similar outcome?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Best,

Banned Brewing Co

 

[brewbush]

Even if the lid is not 100% pushed down, I would imagine it would cover it enough that an infection would be rare in only 1 hour.

As far as the floating things, it is hard to tell without photos.

How much priming sugar did you use? Did you use more BECAUSE of the higher FG? If so, why?

Not sure how reliable measuring gravity is once you start to carbonate it. The
CO2 will interfere with the hydrometer.

 

[Chadwick]

To address your questions we need to know a lot more information. For instance, was this an extract brew or all grain? If it was an all grain brew, we need to know your mash temps. What was the recipe you followed? What was the OG and the FG? Details on the yeast type you fermented with as well as the fermentation temps would be helpful too. If you suspect an infection, pictures are priceless.

I don't mean to make things difficult. But the more details you can provide, the better advise and help you can receive. Given the information you have provided the best advise you can get would not be any better than speculation.

 

[SEABrewer]

A small boil over won't impact anything, except giving you a sticky stove top.

Hard to diagnose the "funk" and milky substance without a bit more detail/pictures. Assuming the rest of your sanitation process was good, I doubt not having the lid fully sealed for a few hours would lead to any contamination issues.

I'm a little confused by your process. Did you confirm that your beer had finished fermenting by taking multiple gravity readings before bottling? You really shouldn't add extra priming sugar to compensate for not hitting your target FG since that could easily overcarb your bottles, potentially leading to bottle bombs. If your beer hasn't reached FG in primary, you need to decide if it's still fermenting (via multiple gravity readings over multiple days) or if you have a stuck fermentation and need to deal with that.

 

[bannedbrewingco]

This was a basic extract kit. Boil to 170 with grain in the Muslin bag, then add LME at 60 min and boil adding hops in increments at 45 min, 55 min, and 60 min. I just tried another beer, and it was much better. I made sure that I didn't pour any yeast into the glass this time around.

 

[bannedbrewingco]

I do admit that it wasn't the best idea in hindsight to add additional dextrose. I'm used to drinking really big beers, so maybe that's the only issue, is that this beer has less non-fermentable sugars in it now. It tastes somewhat like batch 19 (coors prohibition style) - much less flavor than I'm used to. I have a black IPA that I just moved to the secondary today too and I had no problems with it. Not planning on adding extra priming sugar in two weeks before kegging.

 

[bannedbrewingco]

I don't think the funk thing actually was an issue. Yeast was 1056 ale. Thanks for all the responses everybody.